Light to the Hills: A Novel (87)

I am indebted to the folks at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris, Tennessee, for the outstanding displays and history reflected there, in particular on musical instruments and herbal remedies. I spent a night in a charming old schoolhouse inn in Benham, Kentucky, where the Kentucky Coal Mining Museum is located. The museum’s extensive display of photos, gear, and memorabilia is a heartbreaking testament to the hardworking miners who spent their lives underground. There’s a makeshift “cave” in the museum, meant to give visitors a small taste of what it might be like to stoop and crawl through tunnels in the darkness. That experience flavored Finn’s tales of his days in the mine.

Jason M. Vance, at Middle Tennessee State University, provided a wealth of helpful information and samples from his research into the packhorse librarians. The scrapbook photos he shared spawned the idea for the community scrapbook Amanda passed among the mountain families.

Finally, undying friendship and love to those who read early drafts and cheered on Amanda, Sass, and their families and to those whose encouragement bolstered this journey—you know who you are, but for posterity: Jan, Karen, Tracy, Kristin, Sara, Renee, and Dawn, and chief of all champions, Bob, Savannah, and Ben.





RESOURCES


Alvey, R. Gerald. Kentucky Folklore. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1989.

Appelt, Kathi, and Jeanne Cannella Schmitzer. Down Cut Shin Creek: The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.

Boyd, Donald C. “The Book Women of Kentucky: The WPA Pack Horse Library Project, 1936–1943.” Libraries & the Cultural Record 42, no. 2 (2007): 111–128.

Golway, Terry. Together We Cannot Fail: FDR and the American Presidency in Years of Crisis. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2009.

Henson, Heather. That Book Woman. New York: Atheneum Books, 2008.

Kentucky Coal Mining Museum, 231 Main Street, Benham, Kentucky 40807.

Kitchen Sisters. “The Pack Horse Librarians of Eastern Kentucky: The Director’s Cut.” Podcast. http://www.kitchensisters.org/2018/09/24/the-pack-horse-librarians-of-eastern-kentucky-the-directors-cut/.

Mulvey, Deb, ed. “We Had Everything but Money”: Priceless Memories of the Great Depression. Greendale, WI: Reiman Publications.

Museum of Appalachia, 2819 Andersonville Highway, Clinton, TN 37716.

Price, Sadie F. “Kentucky Folklore.” Journal of American Folklore 14, no. 52 (1901): 30–38.

Roberts, Leonard W. Up Cutshin and Down Greasy: Folkways of a Kentucky Mountain Family. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1988.

Vance, Jason. “Librarians as Authors, Editors, and Self-Publishers: The Information Culture of the Kentucky Pack Horse Library Scrapbooks (1936–1943).” Library and Information History 28, no. 4 (2012): 289–308.

Vance, Jason. “A Taste of History: Recipes from Pack Horse Librarian Scrapbooks.” Kentucky Libraries 73, no. 4 (2009): 4–7.

Vance, Jason. “KY Packhorse Scrapbooks.” Online photo album from the FDR Presidential Library. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonvance/sets/72157683436797831/.

Veneble, Sam. Mountain Hands: A Portrait of Southern Appalachia. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2000.

Wigginton, Eliot, ed. The Foxfire Book. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1972.





BOOK GROUP QUESTIONS





Ultimately, whose story is Light to the Hills? Who is the main character, or are there many?

Images of light and darkness (good and evil) are prominent throughout the book, from the darkening stormy woods at the beginning to the fireflies near the end. Were some more effective than others? What sorts of light and darkness in the human heart are portrayed? What “light” is evident in the hills by the story’s end?

Appalachia is full of strong women. Compare the mother-daughter relationship between Rai and Sass MacInteer and Beady Wick and Amanda Rye.

Family is everything in the hills of Kentucky. What does family mean to the MacInteers? Who stands out in the cast of MacInteer siblings?

In the first chapter, we already see there are dangers in the hills—storms, strangers, snakes. What other dangers appear? How do the characters face them, or how do they not?

Gripp Jessup is the only male point of view we see firsthand. Do we need to hear from him? Does his story matter?

There are lots of animals populating the story. What is their role in the lives of the families we meet?

Names and nicknames are important in the Appalachian hills. How does the importance of “who you are” come up? Cricket, Hiccup, Spider, and Sass are all nicknames. What can we learn about the characters from their monikers?

Are there other “characters” in the story that aren’t flesh-and-blood people? Poverty? Religion? Words? Appalachia itself? How do these “characters” interact with the main cast?

Did you think what Beady and Rai did was believable? Did they cross a line?

Although Light to the Hills is primarily a story about strong female characters, the men have pivotal roles to play as well. How would you characterize Harley MacInteer, Jack Wick, Frank Rye, and Finn MacInteer? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

Appalachia is often stereotyped. Before reading the story, did you have any notions about the region? Did those change? Did you learn anything surprising?